Tucker in Wisconsin, Circa 1950s, Any Details?

[Tuckerfan1053]

I was talking with a gentleman who claimed that back in the 1950s his mother worked for an executive for Parker Pens who owned a maroon Tucker as well as a bullet nose Studebaker and a Duesenberg as part of his collection. Any ideas as to which one this might have been or if the guy was yanking my leg?

[plancor 792]

Tell me his last name and what town he lived in and I might be able to help you. You can leave that information here or send it to me TuckerMch@aol.com
Richard

[maineman]

Richard, has anyone famous, or a name we would know owned a tucker in the past or present?

[plancor 792]

Sure, there is George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Winthrop Rockefeller, Charles Pearson, Preston Tucker, Sr. Vera Tucker. Bill Harrah, Ed Monroe, Richard Axelrod, Tommy Barrett and some others.
Now you will want to know what cars they had and when they had them.
Sorry, that information is not made available to the public.

Richard

[Tuckerfan1053]

Not all of the owner's are closed mouth about it. Coppola's got one of his on display. And one which used to belong to Lucas can be seen. As for the one which used to belong to Preston, the Franklin Mint ads for their model claimed that it was based on the one that he used to own (I don't remember the number, nor know where it ended up). Occassionally, the name and number of who owns or has owned a particular Tucker will crop up in a magazine article or the Club's newsletter.

Certainly, not all the cars owners want it broadcast that they own the car, for understandable reasons. By doing so, you run the risk of having it stolen (though I'd think that it'd be pretty difficult to sell one on the black market), or people bugging you constantly to be able to come and see/ride in the car. Both of which put your (very) valuable car at risk for damage. Chick DeLorenzo told me one time that he has to pay his insurance company $1,000 on top of his regular insurance payment if he wants to take his Tucker to a car show (he also mentioned that they placed all kinds of restrictions on how the car could be stored and transported).

While it's nice to see the cars continue to skyrocket in value, it also makes it less likely that anyone will ever see one on the road, which is a shame, because I agree with Jay Leno in that classic cars should be driven and not "trailer queens." (Of course, Leno's got oodles of money, and one of the best mechanics in the business, so he can afford to repair his cars if they get dinged up or breakdown.)

[Ace Barker]

Not all of the owner's are closed mouth about it. Coppola's got one of his on display. And one which used to belong to Lucas can be seen. As for the one which used to belong to Preston, the Franklin Mint ads for their model claimed that it was based on the one that he used to own (I don't remember the number, nor know where it ended up). Occassionally, the name and number of who owns or has owned a particular Tucker will crop up in a magazine article or the Club's newsletter.

Certainly, not all the cars owners want it broadcast that they own the car, for understandable reasons. By doing so, you run the risk of having it stolen (though I'd think that it'd be pretty difficult to sell one on the black market), or people bugging you constantly to be able to come and see/ride in the car. Both of which put your (very) valuable car at risk for damage. Chick DeLorenzo told me one time that he has to pay his insurance company $1,000 on top of his regular insurance payment if he wants to take his Tucker to a car show (he also mentioned that they placed all kinds of restrictions on how the car could be stored and transported).

While it's nice to see the cars continue to skyrocket in value, it also makes it less likely that anyone will ever see one on the road, which is a shame, because I agree with Jay Leno in that classic cars should be driven and not "trailer queens." (Of course, Leno's got oodles of money, and one of the best mechanics in the business, so he can afford to repair his cars if they get dinged up or breakdown.)

I am surprised that Jay Leno doesn't own a Tucker. He ssems to own some pretty impressive cars.

[Tuckerfan1053]

Leno's said that he doesn't really like the look of Tuckers (he does however like the fact that they are very distinctive looking cars). Be nice if we could get him to rescue that one in Brazil, which is apparently rotting away.

Richard, I spoke to the gentleman again, and he said that the car was on the property of William Parker, though he's not sure if the car was owned by him or not. This would have been in Janesville (at least I think that it was Janesville, it was something which began with "Jane") or a town which began with an "M" in WI.

[TuckerCar]

Leno's said that he doesn't really like the look of Tuckers (he does however like the fact that they are very distinctive looking cars).

When did he say that? Lieberman has a photo of he and his wife and Leno standing oin front of 1006. Kinda a cool shot.

[Tuckerfan1053]

Leno's said that he doesn't really like the look of Tuckers (he does however like the fact that they are very distinctive looking cars).

When did he say that? Lieberman has a photo of he and his wife and Leno standing oin front of 1006. Kinda a cool shot.

He said it in one of his Popular Mechanics columns. I did a search of PM's website, and I found the column, I think, but it doesn't read like I remembered it, so I might have misremembered what he was said, or they might have edited it for the web, but you can read it here. What he says about Tucker is

Take Tucker, for example. He must have reasoned, “The public be damned. This is what it should look like.” I simply like the dreamers.

And this comment of Leno's from the same column

I also tend to like cars that need me.

Makes me hopeful that someday he'll fly down to Brazil and snag the Tucker that's down there.

[TuckerCar]

Interesting. When you look at what Leno buys, he tends to go for pre-war cars. Maybe that's why he doesn't have one.